Kim Kardashian: Her Allure Photo Shoot

Kim Kardashian is working on a fresh start—and she's definitely an optimist. "I think I will always believe in love, no matter what," she says. See these exclusive photos from her cover shoot with Norman Jean Roy in Los Angeles, and for our complete interview with Kardashian, pick up the March issue of Allure, on newsstands February 21.

"People [think] because you film your life on a reality show, you live everything for the cameras. But we all have limits," says Kardashian. "My mom has no limits. We need someone, right, to have no limits? That's my mom." As for Kardashian's limits, they are evolving. There was a time when she thought she wanted an ongoing record of her marriage for posterity. "When I saw Khloé and Lamar get married—and they had their wedding on TV—I thought, Oh, my gosh, that's so exciting! That's what I want! If you were to ask me now, that's not what I want."

If Kardashian has regrets about sharing so much of her personal life on camera, she doesn't dwell on them. Still, she says, the experience "definitely made me want to be more private with my relationship, whenever I choose to get into one again. I'm not ready, but when that time comes, I'll be more cautious about who I let my world open up to."

Hairstylist Serge Normant (above) curled Kardashian's hair with a one-inch curling iron to give it random waves. Then he smoothed on a dry oil for a damp-looking sheen and dabbed pomade near her roots to add weight and texture.

"Kim is a natural beauty," said makeup artist Fulvia Farolfi. "So we wanted to show her as naturally as possible, like she had just come back from the beach." To achieve this, the makeup artist skipped both mascara and eye shadow, and instead simply drew a red-brown pencil on the upper and lower lids. She then swirled a bronzy cream foundation on Kardashian's cheekbones and dabbed on a pink-beige lipstick. To give her a dewy look, Farolfi misted water and Rodin Olio Lusso onto Kardashian's skin.

The star has been known to ask her 12 million Twitter followers (she calls them "dolls") what color lipstick she should wear. When they respond, she actually takes their advice. It's this mix of fantasy and accessibility that makes audiences tune in to her family's shows, Kardashian says: "It's the glitz and the glam, but then we have the normal fights. I get a lot [of comments] like 'I have no sisters and I wish I did' or 'I have tons of sisters, and we're just like you!' There are so many of us, someone can relate to one of us in the family."

"Khloé joked with me and said, 'Will you be my surrogate?'" Kim says about having children. "I said, 'I think I have a couple more years when I just want my body to myself. At 35, I promise I'll consider it.'"

As for her future wedding? "I would just want it to be so special, with our family and close friends, and that's it. Somewhere on a deserted island, very private," she says, lowering her gaze. "No cameras."